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I wish there was a way to sharpen (and have them work properly) offset snips tho. Or is there a way that I've missed?

I have a pair of Wiss aviation snips that I bought at Boeing Surplus 30 years ago. They obviously were resharpened numerous times because there is so little metal left. The metal removed was at the faces that slide together as they operate, not the "top" of the jaws. The finish of the resurfaced area looks like a cup wheel was used for the process. It would take a special fixture to hold the jaws for this, and the tool would have to be completely disassembled.

I work with tin snips on a daily basis and I find more often than not it's the adjustment of the blades (how close the blades are to each other) that lead to poor cuts. What I usually do is adjust them and then tack the nut to the bolt to keep them from coming loose again, I find that once they've been readjusted they seem to come loose quite easily. Not that this has anything to do with fixing your old snips, but whenever I buy a pair of new snips I always take along a piece of metal to test them out, you'd be surprised at how many pairs are not right from the factory.

The way I usually adjust my aviation snips is just by testing them on a piece of metal. You should be able to cut very thin pieces off the edge without it binding or folding over the metal, trial and error I guess. Maybe there might be a better way but this always works for me. Pattern snips I usually just try and get them close with out binding.

The way to adjust them is to close them and latch em shut. Then tighten the bolt between the blades. After its tight enough to where they dont open, open the latch and SLOWLY loosen the bolt until they pop open. At that point the blades are as close as possible without catching and will cut the best.

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Sounds like your talking about aviation snips then, right?
I pictured the bigger ones from the OP, ones more like Scissors but with short blades?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fordman7795

The way to adjust them is to close them and latch em shut. Then tighten the bolt between the blades. After its tight enough to where they dont open, open the latch and SLOWLY loosen the bolt until they pop open. At that point the blades are as close as possible without catching and will cut the best.

An old machinist taught me to hit the cutting surfaces with an India stone from time to time. They do tend to get some asperities on the blades with time, and knocking them off will improve performance.

Sounds like your talking about aviation snips then, right?
I pictured the bigger ones from the OP, ones more like Scissors but with short blades?

I figured the OP was talking aviation tin snips, as the scissors type tools I normally call shears. For shears, the Craftsman shears I have have full replacable blades that bolt in. For my Wiss V10 shears like these:

I just send them out to my local scissors and knife shop to get sharpened.

I am interested in this thread as i have a 15 yo pair of Craftsman aviation snip that have a few slight gouges/dings in the blade edge likely from the previous owners misuse that i would love to figure out how to get out and get he blade edge smooth again.

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"The best part about drinking boxed wine is you can blow up the bag and use it as a pillow at the end of the night..." LOL

I am interested in this thread as i have a 15 yo pair of Craftsman aviation snip that have a few slight gouges/dings in the blade edge likely from the previous owners misuse that i would love to figure out how to get out and get he blade edge smooth again.

An old machinist taught me to hit the cutting surfaces with an India stone from time to time. They do tend to get some asperities on the blades with time, and knocking them off will improve performance.